Veterinary Care

[LindaJean]

That must have taken a lot of courage Moth. I'm learning so much from everyone here.
Amara took off after the pair of wild ducks in the yard , I was just barely able to hold on and stop her. The leash took some skin off my finger , but we quickly forgave each other - she got hot dog instead of duck, and life is good again.[attachment=0]IMG_5295.JPG

[MissS]

@Moth1992 I'm sorry that you two are having to do this. Poor things. Hopefully you both will get the hang of it soon.

[worth1]

I guess one of my favorite pets was a baby brahman bull that I bottle fed.
The only time he went to the vet was when we had his horn's surgically removed while a baby.
This is a humane way of doing it and leaves nor scarring.
The feller was so small when we got him he road in the back seat of the car with me on the way home.
Him and my dog Rip became good buddies and grew up with each other.
The reason for the horn removal was being a pet he could have accidentally injured one of us rooting his head to get our attention.
One of his favorite things to do was to walk up behind me and lift me in the air with his head.
He grew up to be a massive beast with a massive hump as gentle as could be.
He never did get mean like the idiots said he would.
He was light grey to a dark almost black tint with shades of reddish gold mixed in around his head.
Long grey tail with a black tip to swat the flies.

[WoodSprite]

@MissS - How's Murphy doing now?

[MissS]

@WoodSprite she's not as happy today as yesterday and her urine is florescent yellow again. She keeps taking her cone off and licking open the wound on her leg from the IV. She has all of the scab off from the tape and the flesh is nice and healthy pink but the IV site itself is open again. Given that, I have placed some Neosporin and gauze over it and then wrapped her leg to see if that will keep her away from it.

Her liver recovery is going to take a few weeks. I did giver her some chicken liver last night. Perhaps that was too much protein for her liver to process. Tonight will be more noodles with some cottage cheese.

[LindaJean]

MissS and Murphy, Moth and Kitty - wishing all mercy and beauty along the road to healing.

tumblr_p9_1280.png

[MissS]

@LindaJean thank you.

[WoodSprite]

@MissS - dang. It's so hard when they won't leave a wound heal. Sorry to hear her urine is not looking good again. Sounds like the vet feels this is something that she is very likely to overcome? If so, that's fantastic. I understand it will be a struggle but I'm so happy to hear that (if I'm understanding you correctly).

I don't know if it would work, given the location she's trying to get at, but have you seen how people use pool noodles and cut them and make them into sort of a neckless and it prevents dogs from reaching different parts of their bodies. I don't know if that would work to keep it from her IV site but might be worth Googling for images of something like "pool noodle collar dog".

[GoDawgs]

We tried subQs for the first time today at home......
He growled, bolted mid treatment and was mostly uncooperative poor baby.
Half went in and then leaked out. But I got the poking right only at the second try so im calling it a success.
Will try again tomorrow.

It took a few tries to get the hang of giving Herman his insulin shots without hurting him. I finally got the hang of it by grabbing a fold of skin and pulling it up, then injecting into it while it's still raised up. That prevents the needle from poking flesh and causing the "ouch!" Worked like a charm and he quit running away when it was shot time.

[MissS]

@WoodSprite I have recently seen the pool noodles used as a collar and I think that it's a fantastic idea. It's so much more comfortable for them than the cone. Unfortunately it won't work in this case as she would still be able to reach her leg.

What she is really doing when she is licking her leg is debriding her injury which in itself is not a bad thing as it causes healing from underneath rather than from the top. The problem is that we don't want her to get an infection into her vein. That would be horrible to deal with.

Hopefully she will make a full recovery but there is the possibility of having permanent liver damage. The good news is that the liver is the only organ in the body that can regenerate itself provided that the damage was not too severe. Time will tell us if she makes a full recovery or not.

We still don't know how she got this. It could have been so many things, even eating a mushroom in the yard.

[Moth1992]

Ugh today we where having a good day and then he vomited

At least the subQs are getting somewhat easier. But I cant fathom spending the rest of his life like this. One day at a time I guess....

[MissS]

@Moth1992 I'm so sorry to hear this. I feel your pain. Poor Herman, I hope that his stomach settles down soon.

I thought that Murphy was doing pretty well too. She got her cone off two days ago and was leaving her leg alone. Gosh what a big scar she has for an IV site. Usually there should be none. Yesterday she threw up her dinner and I passed it off as being too rich still. Back to pure kibble. Breakfast today stayed down and then she threw up her dinner tonight. I made a vet appointment for tomorrow. Her spirits are good and she is happy. Her eye whites aren't yellow and her ears are pink but I don't want her to get as sick as she was. Before bed she had some pasta and cottage cheese and that has stayed down.

I need to invest in a carpet cleaning machine.

[WoodSprite]

Thanks for the updates. Gosh, it's so hard. So many ups and downs. Hang in there @Moth1992 and @MissS. That's all we can really do when our furry friends are sick. Well that and love them and do our best by them which you both are doing. ((hugs)) to both of you.

[AZGardener]

I'm sorry to hear Murphy isn't quite up to par yet. Sending good wishes your way for better days ahead.

[MissS]

Well Murphy was back at the vet yesterday. Her liver numbers are still way too high but there is no fever. There is no jaundice. She is back on a low protein diet of pasta and chicken or cottage cheese. We will see how it goes and then back to the doctor at the end of the month to recheck her bloodwork. Otherwise she is happy and playful and back to being her obnoxious puppy self. I'll take it!

[GoDawgs]

Other than the liver numbers, it sounds like she's a happy dog. This is good news. Do they have any idea why the numbers are staying up there?

[MissS]

Other than the liver numbers, it sounds like she's a happy dog. This is good news. Do they have any idea why the numbers are staying up there?

No they don't. My vet is retiring next week so when she has her follow-up she will be seeing someone else. Perhaps they will have more insight.